Arcane Eats

Food and magic have gone hand-in-hand since the beginning. The poison apple, the golden apples (frankly there are a lot of apples), mead that gives you visions, and the like. While these magical foods are often captured in magic items, they also have storied history in magic spells, such as goodberry or heroes’ feast. This week, I look to add to that tradition with three new spells for each of my most typically consumed foods: meat, fruits, and synthetic nutritional product. Enjoy.

You intercede with spirits of the hunt to grant you the blessed gift of fresh and delicious meat from an animal you are about to slay. If the target fails its saving throw and is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points by an attack you make or a spell you cast, its body is infused with magic, making for an exceptional dinner. Any creature that eats from the flesh of the target gains a sense of insight from the life of the slain creature. For the next 24 hours, a creature that has consumed the meat of the target can gain a +2 insight bonus to a single attack roll, saving throw, skill check, or ability check. She can use this ability after she makes the roll but before the result is revealed. When your caster level reaches 4th, and every 4 caster levels thereafter, a creature that has eaten from meat affected by this spell can gain this bonus one additional time in the 24-hour period.

You create a magical mud-colored liquid capable of sustaining creatures without need of other sustenance. Nutritional base is an alchemist extract that is inherently magical when created, and its properties are unique in that any creature consuming the liquid can benefit from it, without the alchemist needing to possess the infusion discovery or similar ability. Witches can also cast this spell, though in such cases it is usually called edible mud or branded with some other less formulaic name. In either case, a single casting of this spell produces enough muddy, flavorless liquid to sustain 1 Medium-sized humanoid per caster level. Any creature that consumes a portion of the liquid is sustained without need of food and water for 1 day per caster level. Additionally, during this time, a creature that has consumed this liquid gains a bonus equal to your caster level on Constitution checks made to avoid the ill effects of making a forced march.

You create a massive glowing yellow fruit, which can be used as a light source, consumed to gain the power of the warming sun, or thrown as a grenade-like weapon. This spell, named after the desert herb of the same name, produces a fruit that is superficially similar to the aforementioned herb, but whose magical properties vary somewhat. As long as it is held by a living creature, the fruit sheds bright light in a 60-foot radius, and increases the light level in a 60-foot radius beyond that by 2 steps, to a maximum of bright light. While not a light spell, sun fruit suppresses (but does not dispel) darkness spells of 5th level or lower which are within the radius of bright light created by the spell.

In addition to shedding light, a sun fruit can be eaten. This can accomplish one of two effects, depending on whether you have granted the consumer permission to eat the fruit. If consumed by a creature who has permission to eat the fruit, the fruit fills the consumer with warmth and vigor, and he gains a number of temporary hit points equal to 3d8 + your caster level. However, if the consumer has not been granted permission to eat the fruit, he is ravaged by the heat of the sun, suffering 1d8 per caster level points of fire damage (a successful Fortitude save halves this damage). You can give broad permission for all creatures to eat the fruit, or revoke such permission at any time during the spell’s duration as a swift action.

Finally, the fruit can be thrown, at which point it explodes in a brilliant sunburst on impact. All creatures in a 10-foot radius of the square the fruit lands in must succeed on a Reflex saving throw or be blinded for the remaining duration of the spell.